Once a business owner and journalist whose work had been published in Oprah’s “O” Magazine, my first job out of homelessness was as a writer for a paper that homeless people sold on the streets for $2 a publication.

My next job was as a cashier in an upscale grocery store. There, I learned a demanding lesson: How to stay rooted in the present moment, no matter how mundane or robotic, so that I could do whatever it took to re-build my life.

There were days when the broken pieces of the life before my collapse were all I could see. Thankfully, I come from hardy stock.

My father was an immigrant from Panama. He came to America and washed dishes to pay for his college education, which eventually led to his career as a NASA scientist. My mother never went to college. Yet she became the Executive Director of a non-profit that provided mentally challenged people with stable care and housing. It is in my blood to start with seemingly very little, and create something wonderful.

Several opportunities are beginning to present themselves, opportunities that allow me to help people view collapse and recovery from a much needed vantage point. I look forward to sharing the future with you.